Offer made for vacant Beech-Nut building in Canjo

October 22, 2013

CANAJOHARIE - The former 20-acre Beech-Nut site in the village could house a business again after being vacant for more than two years.

Christopher Westfall, a real estate agent from Pyramid Brokerage in Syracuse, recently confirmed an offer was made on the building. The unidentified potential buyer is in the process of having the building inspected, he said, which could take up to three weeks.

Mayor Francis Avery thinks the development could have a positive effect on the community.

"Any activity [in the Beech-Nut building] is positive," Avery said. "It's much better than an empty building, so we're very happy that there is an offer and we hope that it moves forward."

Beech-Nut moved to its current facility in the town of Florida about two years ago. The move caused some economic decline in the village, as activity downtown decreased.

The baby food maker's departure also left the village with a sewer system that was too costly to maintain without the company, officials said. So far, though, officials have been able to leverage state grants to update the plants and try to keep sewer rates down.

The mayor said he's had informal discussions with the potential buyer regarding the water and sewer capacity.

"Potential jobs would be very good for this area. When Montgomery County has an 8.5 percent unemployment rate, of course anything coming in here would be good. It can only help us," he said.

Neither Westfall nor Avery would comment on the likelihood of the sale going through.